


All the Waves Would Bow Down to the Lorelei

by Lusksinger



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Dragons, Dwarves, Elves, Fantasy, Humans, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-14 20:52:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14144328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lusksinger/pseuds/Lusksinger
Summary: Lorelei, the silver dragon, fights to defend those he loves against the sea dragon Ferreus. The story tells of how he started his orphanage and gained the admiration of other dragons despite them perhaps not understanding him.





	All the Waves Would Bow Down to the Lorelei

Even when Lorelei was a mere hundred years old, he'd taken the form of an elderly human male. Though he was still considered young, the humans that had been blessed to see the same amount of years had so much to share and talk about that he admired them so much more. Every breath was a precious gift to them. Lorelei loved life, art, and learning from the shorter-lived races in the surrounding area of his mountain. Nearest to his tall mountain peak were the hill dwarves which had carved out a cave in a solitary peak among the purest, greenest fields where they conducted trade with elves, humans, gnomes, and whoever else was interested. They taught him much about determination. While he might waste time planning out something carefully over hundreds of years, the dwarves planned things out within half the time. Most impressive of all was the ambition of the humans who lived lives so fleeting that they completed dreams and goals that their hearts yearned for within the span of a mere ten to twenty years. With limited time afforded to them, they made the most of what they had and learned so much. It inspired him to love them most and to not waste a moment of time, for though it was plentiful to him it was precious to others. He had a soft spot in his heart for them more than any other race.

 

So when the shipwrecks started, it hurt his heart. He paid respects at the shore's edge for dozens of perished men, some barely in their teens, lives claimed by the sea. But the wrecks became increasingly frequent, even in calm weather. Whispers passed from bearded lips in the cave to the hairless visage of the elves in the further woods and then were passed to the scaled maws of dragons in the cliffs. _Ferreus_ , they said. A heart unrelenting and cold that could only be warmed by the joy of senseless murder. He lurked in the nearby ocean and killed for sport, uncaring for even the treasures of a hoard. It simply pleased him to take the souls of lives that could barely be called living at all for how fleeting they were. The sea dragon claimed innocent lives up into Lorelei's mature adulthood, but none seemed to care enough to do anything and those that did had no power with which to stop it. Enraged by watching the senseless violence, Lorelei sought to confront Ferreus himself.

 

The haughty eel-like face emerged from the shadows and considered young Lorelei with a disturbing sneer. In as much a sense as a toddler demanding respect of a wizened old ancient, Lorelei bade he cease the bloodshed. He spoke of respect for the younger races, love for watching them grow and adapt, made mention of the years of loss regarding friends he'd come to admire and consider equal.

 

The dragon withdrew himself from the shallows and maintained eye-contact with him, sneering with rows upon rows of thin, sharp teeth. While Lorelei had chosen to confront Ferreus in his human form, Ferreus remained in his true appearance. It was clear at once he considered anything else beneath him. While pointing out Lorelei's weakness due to his fondness for the humans, elves, and dwarves around him, he made mention of just how many ships he'd taken below to the depths. Recounted the screams, the valiant fighters, the fruitless attempts to either swim to safety or to try to fend him off. The silver dragon remained unphased, staring back unblinking, lips set in the thinnest of lines. He issued his warning - cease or be dealt with.

 

As he walked away, the laughter crashed like waves behind him.

 

If anything, the attacks increased. As though to prove his lack of care for Lorelei's tender young heart, Ferreus instead made sure to toss the wreckage of every ship in a broken heap along the water's edge. One after another. It became a pile of shattered boards, bent nails, splintered fibers drenched red with severed appendages scattered here and there as an afterthought. Lorelei's heart sank when human women recognized the color of garments their loved ones had worn before braving the seas for trade.

 

The silver dragon returned to face the sea dragon. As he reached the waters, the great Ferreus swam lazily about awaiting his arrival. "Am I to be dealt with, then, wyrmling?" The crashing waves licked at his ears as Ferreus laughed in his face. Still in human form, Lorelei regarded him with narrowed eyes.

 

"This is your final warning. Cease or be dealt with."

 

Ferreus rose and hovered over the old human form. "I will not yield."

 

With a curt nod, Lorelei turned on his heel and left.

 

\----

 

The night started off eerily quiet. It seemed as if even the ocean had been tamed by a spell of time. Unmoving, unchurning. No dark shadow lurked in the waters. Ships docked and people disembarked safely for the first time in years. As working hours began to wind down, Ferreus made his approach. With the final smash of a dwaf's hammer on steel in the forge, rows of slender teeth sank over those closest to the waterline. Ferreus moved lithely as though still swimming in the depths - swift and slippery, nearly impossible to see. His scales shone in the moonlight unless they became flecked with blood. The sounds of battle reached Lorelei's ears: a mixture of war cries and steel being bent into useless shapes. One by one, they swung at the creature and two by two they fell lifeless or close-to-dead at the creatures fins.

 

Swooping down from the mountaintops, Lorelei spewed a paralyzing gas that, naturally, the older dragon managed to dodge. They took to the skies, circling one another while swinging massive tails into one another's bodies. Beneath them the healthy dwarves gathered up their injured as swiftly as they could and made haste for the homes of the humans across the way. Cockily, Ferreus turned his back to young Lorelei and sent a spray of frigid sea water at the retreating dwarves. He raced along the path they intended to take with the silver dragon hot on his fins as Ferreus blasted them all up to the doors of the humans' homes. The sea dragon took it all in stride. He merely dodged all attacks from land and countered anything Lorelei sent his way. Beneath them humans split in two - those seeking escape either by land or by sea and those who stood to buy them time to flee. As their ships slowly headed for what they supposed must be safe waters with the dragon not currently occupying them, Ferreus sent forth a mighty hurricane to race after their pathetic fleet. The wind tossed them like children's playthings left and right. To Lorelei's ears he was unsure what was Ferreus' laughter and what was the storm. Diving in close to the ancient dragon, Lorelei clawed and bit at the shimmering scales. Though he landed several blows, Ferreus seemed undeterred.

 

Like a bolt of lightning, Ferreus sped then for the forests, uprooting trees in his wake. He easily tore apart the elven homes. As Ferreus took a young elven woman into his teeth, Lorelei slammed into him and rolled him across the fields several times before standing atop him. Without hesitation, Lorelei's mouth ripped at the delicate looking fins of the dragon beneath him and shredding them to ribbons. Ferreus, for the first time, let out a howl of rage and pain, struggling beneath the strong talons of the younger. In desperation, the mighty fish unleashed a series of lightning bolts into his adversary's chest until he was released.

 

With no hesitation, the sea dragon shot back into the air and began to flee. Lorelei gave chase, ignoring the increasing wind around him as his foe conjured more storms to both block his retreat and to continue the destruction of the remaining elven homes. Injury had slowed him and Lorelei managed to fall upon him again, tearing at the beautiful scales, marring him as he had marred this beautiful valley and all that surrounded it. For a moment, the silver dragon went blind in his fury, and when his sight returned the cold-hearted Ferreus no longer had a heart to beat at all. The blood stained his shining scales and, though shaken, he flew back at once to the wounded. Hardly any remained. Those protected the greatest had been the young, but many were now parentless, homeless, and without hope. Over the next few days, he helped to clean the wreckage, bury the dead, and bolster the fragile hope of those who had once inhabited this place. The consensus became that none could bear to remain here. It held a weight too heavy.

 

The silver dragon made his way to the ocean depths to retrieve what few treasures remained of the sunken ships Ferreus had not cared to claim. He kept very little for his hoard and instead passed out what belonged to the survivors to help them begin again. Dwarves, elves, and humans alike all thanked him and, though shocked, obliged when Lorelei offered to care for any who were orphaned. Though it was hardest on the dwarven children, they did no protest when he began the arduous task of reclaiming the ruined cave to make into a home for his young ones. He wanted to teach the young survivors what it meant to fight for others and to love in spite of a never ending torrent of hatred. Though by all accounts he should have lost the fight, here he still stood.

 

Over the years the grass grew green again and the forests gave rise to new trees in the destruction of their fellows. He taught his orphans of art, of his dragon magic, how to speak his language, and made note of all the skills that beckoned to the various children. Some were gifted with spells, and so he taught them how to let the magic take root without taking over. Others were gifted with fine culinary dishes and so he allowed them to experiment by feeding their siblings and himself. There were gifted artists in the group as well as talented craftsmen. Many dwarves showed prowess in cultivating crops, designing jewelry, crafting weaponry. The elves leaned toward skills involving beauty and grace and often it is where he found his poets, his singers, his tailors, and those who loved to paint elaborate portraits. The humans were so diverse that it was always something new and unexpected. He found his alchemists and strong spell crafters within this group. Though the skills intermingled between the races, this was generally the pattern he saw strongest. When he felt they'd known enough about their skill-set, he sent them in the direction of a potential start to their lives. He could not coddle them forever and he wanted them to go into the world and share the things he'd taught them with others.

 

Thousands of years passed in this way. Dragons from far and wide who respected and admired him came to pay respects. In the valley around his cave, the dragons who visited each bestowed upon him their own Dragon Leaf Trees. While any other dragon who coveted so many trees would appear to be pompous, for Lorelei it was a sign of respect and power from the others. Their colors varied from bronze, white, green, silver, red, gold, black, blue and so forth. On every corner of the land, there were dragons who regarded him in the highest of esteem. These trees became the means of protection over the years for his children when he left the cave to search for others who might need a home to grow up safely. Though he knew his children would look after one another, it did provide a bit of relief knowing he had the trees to assist should anything come searching for them. He protected the lands with magic just in case. Though it meant no one could remember what they'd seen should they stumble across his little cave, it also meant his little ones could not return to visit. He would find them in their new lives from time-to-time, but once he'd sent them from the cave, they knew it wasn't in the cards to return there.

 

It never felt enough, but with every passing year he prayed that his work meant something to the ones he'd failed to save in his youth during Ferreus' rampage across the land and sea. He genuinely loved the children and more than a handful eventually came to call him some variant of father. He never deterred them from it, though it took time to adjust to at first. In time the human form he'd chose began to truly fit his age. Though most of his little ones grew to be great wizards and healers, there were a few who strayed from his teachings. He could generally tell when a young one didn't feel it in them to remain faithful to his words and, though it pained them, it was their life to live and he could not live it for them. Only a couple of times had he needed to intervene to stop a terrible threat from one of his own children. It had hurt both times in a way more powerful than watching his friends die all those years ago. Perhaps he had failed them, somehow.

 

Lorelei spent his years truly living up to his expectations as a friend to all. Though most silvers spoke uncertainly of him for butting into affairs that were not his own, none challenged him on the matter. He was a rare one to intervene in situations that were not his own. But, watching his little humans, elves, and dwarves play and learn and grow in the cave - it all seemed right. He could imagine no other place he would rather be than returning to these tiny, hopeful arms and eyes filled with wonder. Even four thousand years would seem too brief to enjoy their blessings.

**Author's Note:**

> _and the winds would cry_  
>  and many men would die  
> and all the waves would bow down  
> to the Loreley 
> 
>  
> 
> *~*~*~*
> 
> I'm in the midst of a new D&D campaign and, before I could write the backstory of my main character, I needed to write the backstory for a couple of people who are important in his life. Namely Lorelei the silver dragon who raised him, but I'll do his crush later on as well. Hopefully soon so I can actually write about him before our next campaign on Sunday.
> 
> Lorelei is a silver dragon who has a deep love and respect for humans, elves, and dwarves (though he unashamedly admits that humans are his favorite). He has a deep admiration for how much the shorter lived races can achieve in such a short amount of time and wishes to apply it to even his long life though he has what is, to most, all the time in the world. I imagine him visually and behaviorally as the the emperor from Disney's Mulan, but with a mix in behavior in regard to Albus Dumbledore from the world of Harry Potter.
> 
> While talking about Lorelei in the middle of the campaign, my friend began playing Blackmore's Night's song of the same name (though a different spelling variant), and I'd become hooked on the phrase "and all the waves would bow down to the Loreley". Why shouldn't a sea dragon bow to the silver dragon? Sea dragons are notoriously evil in some fashion, but silvers are known to be lawful good. Though they don't tend to interfere in situations and rather just let things play out. But Lorelei has a strong, tender heart and cannot sit back. It isn't in him. He is too invested in these fleeting lives and he can't refrain from stepping in even at the cost of his life.
> 
> If you look up Loreley's Rock, you'll see the story has many variants, but all involve a woman and some form of death and the mention of a siren. At first I wanted to give Lorelei a touch of darkness, but the more I've listened to the song I can't help but think of him as the woman fighting against the aggressive sea. Even if the sea claims him, he'd still have his barnacle throne. Underwater with nothing but darkness -- so deep that no light can pass through. He will be that light.


End file.
